Today we have 2 quarterly results from companies using a fiscal year ending in March, one good, and one less so.

Q3 Reports

Tata Motors (TTM) failed to meet analyst expectations and the stock crashed in India, after worries about corporate governance in the House of Tata had already stalled the TTM engine. Profit at UK Jaguar-Landrover plummeted to £16.7 mn, ($20.7 mn). Since JLR is the main earner for TTM, the parent co profits fell 62% y/y to rupees 1.12 bn (about $16.7 mn) down from Rs 29.53 bn a year before. The forecast consensus figure from Thomson Reuters was Rs 22.48 bn, a huge miss.

JLR also was hit by the revaluation of its dollar-denominated debt. Sales at JLR (in sterling) rose 13% to £6.54 bn but the UK brand wound up doing the same thing as its India parent, selling cars for almost no profits. In India TTM generated a net loss of R10.46 bn vs a mere R1.37 bn of loss in the prior year. Adding to the woes, TTM in Q3 took a charge of R7.17 bn for JLR cars damaged in Tianjin, China, in the summer of 2015. Another factor was the government withdrawal of allegedly high currency notes (worth ~$15 each) which hurt sales of commercial vehicles.

Uranium miner Cameco (CCJ) [which reported earnings last Friday] was upgraded to outperform from neutral with a new C$18 target price by analysts of BMO Capital. They argue that supplies will tighten because of Kazakhstani Kazatprom's 10% output cuts, boosting the uranium price. Analyst Edward Sterck also forecast that the dispute with Japanese electric utility Tepco, which argued “force majeur” to exit its CCJ supply contract will go to arbitration rather than the courts. CCJ stock rose 4.7% so far today to US$12.28.